Millions needed for Durban City Hall renovations

The Durban City Hall, the seat of eThekwini Municipality’s political administration, will undergo renovations that will see ratepayers cough up more than R33 million for the project.

During the council meeting on Monday, the council approved R33.7m for some of the work that needs to be done on the historic building.

However, councillors said this amount was a drop in the ocean and the real cost of renovations could be between R90m and R322m.

The R33.7m will go towards the funding of priorities, including repairing storm damage in the main auditorium, roof repairs in the City Hall administration and cultural block, the upgrading of the air conditioning and ventilation system, fixing domestic pipes, and fire hydrant upgrades.

The report said the procurement process for some of the work had been finalised and award letters issued.

The report revealed that councillors were sceptical about the repair work that took place in the past.

The report said: “During the discussion at the executive committee level, it was agreed that the City Hall building upgrade is required, however, at the same time, cognisance was taken of the fact that quite a number of projects have been undertaken to upgrade the City Hall building in the past.

“Therefore, as part of playing an effective oversight, the committee requested a comprehensive report on the work undertaken in the past as well as the cost.”

DA councillor Jenny Black said the building was in severe disrepair and the funds available were minuscule compared to the work that was needed.

She said most of the building’s infrastructure had passed its lifespan which rendered the City Hall non-compliant with safety regulations.

“The main auditorium roof has collapsed three times, pipes are corroded.

Added to that, workmen with no know-how on how to treat a historic building have been allowed to do repair work on this building and work has been shoddy at best,” she said.

“Looking at the budget over the next three years, it appears to be another bandage on a serious situation. R99 million does not even cover the cost of the repair of the roof, let alone bringing this old grand lady to modern safety codes,” Black said.

Black, referring to an online tender document published in 2021, said an assessment of the building by an engineer found that the City could require close to R322m to fix the building.

She said the report had found that the building’s electrical systems had been affected by unco-ordinated construction work. The report added that the structural engineer had asked for the timber sections of the roof to be evaluated to determine their structural integrity, adding that it was likely the entire roof structure was compromised by the presence of wood-eating insects.

Alan Beesley of ActionSA said the party supported the renovations.

“A concern is the amount of money required to effect the renovations. If properly planned maintenance had been in place, it is unlikely that the City Hall would have gotten into the poor state it is currently in,” Beesley said.

ANC councillor Ntando Khuzwayo said: “We are requesting the money to fix the storm damage, repairs to the cultural block, domestic pipes and fire hydrants. The rest of the problems that the City Hall has are being considered and as budget availability (improves) they will be responded to.”

The Mercury